China says Iran, sextet narrowed gaps in Geneva

China says the two parties at recent Geneva talks over Iran’s nuclear program narrowed differences and improved their understanding, though the subject is ‘too complicated to be solved at one stroke.’

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Monday that negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – plus Germany were “serious and arduous” and both sides narrowed differences and improved their understanding.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany concluded their talks over Tehran’s nuclear energy program in Geneva during the early hours of November 10, after three days of intense negotiations.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said, however, that “as the six nations have been in talks with Iran for ten years, the Iranian nuclear issue is too complicated to be solved at one stroke.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle respectively joined the talks on November 8.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Li Baodong also traveled to Geneva the next day to attend the negotiations.

The two sides of the Geneva talks could not reach an agreement at the end of the day, but stated that significant progress had been made, expressing optimism about the prospect of achieving a deal in the future.

The French foreign minister said on Monday that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany are “not far” from reaching a nuclear deal with Iran.

The UK foreign secretary also said a deal on Iran’s nuclear energy program could be reached within weeks. Hague acknowledged “some gaps” remained between parties at the talks but said “most of those gaps are narrow.”

The negotiations will continue in Geneva on November 20.

Meanwhile, Israel has increased its campaign to undermine talks between Iran and the six major world powers and prevent any possible nuclear deal.

On November 10, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the United States and the European Union not to let up sanctions against Tehran.

“This is the deal that is proposed now. Iran does not roll back its nuclear making capacities at all but the P5+1 are rolling back sanctions. That’s a bad deal. It’s a dangerous deal,” he said